On PITOM:

"Yoshie combines influences from Frank Zappa, Sonic Youth and Masada into a rocking band performing catchy, hooky compositions that both pay tribute to and challenge the Jewish tradition...Pitom is a hard-edged new addition to the legacy of Radical Jewish Culture"

-John Zorn

"Pitom is a first-rate debut CD by an incredibly creative, remarkably capable, and gutsy band that takes musical risk-taking in stride. This CD is a must-have for Tzadik fans and fans of instrumental progressive rock, as well as for those who simply enjoy intense music in general."

-JazzReview.com

"Think of an electric “Masada” on steroids....[Pitom] sound like vintage “Mahavishnu Orchestra” laced with surf music amid “Sonic Youth” drenched reckless abandon. Count this gem as a top pick for 2008, regardless of genre"

-eJazz news

"Fruchter is clearly a talent to be reckoned with"

-Jewish Week

"...[Pitom is] an artistic endeavor that is deep in the realms of contemporary music...the music is excitingly jarring at times and leaves you peeking around every corner for what’s going to happen next."

-The University of Florida Shpiel

"Cacophonic guitar, surly heavy-metal bass and a soaring violin, so ethereal that the listener needs those mosh-pit drums to rocket you back down to
Earth....Pitom have already set the West Village of New York
ablaze with their on-stage presence, and this -- the first document of
their remarkable presence on the planet -- is a beautiful and caustic
warning to the rest of the world."

-Matthue Roth, MyJewishLearning.com

"Pitom run klezmer music through a garage-punk blender, creating raucous, dissonant tunes that could get even old Shlomo pogoing."

Gerry Mak, flavorpill.com

"if Ocean’s 11 were about an all-star band of misfit Jewish theives, this would be the soundtrack...Even the punk-averse couple sitting next to me in Zebulon were doing a little feet tapping to the fiddle. Meanwhile the frumsters and kipah-free heads bobbed aplenty and unashamed."

-Jewschool.com

"Pitom are an intriguing propostion. What I like about them is that they aren't afraid to rock...Pitom seems less embarassed about using rock/punk as a resource in Jewish musical explorations and good on them."

-MetalJew Blog

On Juez:

“Their love of electronic music, jazz, and spoken word experimentation makes them sound like a bunch of poets who decided to form a Bar Mitzvah band…Taking major cues from artists as diverse as John Zorn and DJ Shadow, Juez promises to be an act to which few other artists can be compared.”
- Gabe Shalom, The University of Maryland Diamondback

On Bellflur:

"...The collective Bellflur's multidirectional and multi-limbed (three guitars, bass, drums and keyboards) rock alternately chimed and bellowed, suggesting such influences as Can and Spacemen 3."
- Patrick Foster, Washington Post

Yoshie grew up in a musical family and began taking guitar lessons at age thirteen. He played in a number of rock bands throughout high school, and joined his father’s wedding band, Kol Chayim, at eighteen. After high school, he went to a Jewish Yeshiva in Israel, concurrently playing in groups there and studying with guitarist Johnny Hill. Upon his return, he began school at the University of Maryland. After his freshman year, he began taking classes through the jazz program studying guitar, and took lessons with faculty guitarist Gerry Kunkel. During this time he also studied with area jazz guitarist, Paul Wingo. While in college, Yoshie became involved in a number of musical projects including Juez, an avante-Klezmer group in which he played electric bass, Bellflur, an ambient post rock group, and M-Theory, a jazz/fusion quintet. He also freelanced in the DC area, and had a regular gig with the James Robinsson trio at Utopia Café. He now leads a new rockin/avante/jazz/ klezmer group called Pitom, and performs material from his latest record with his father, Beyond the Book. Yoshie has also gained experience as a Jewish educator teaching music in various Hebrew schools and doing shows and workshops at Jewish events.

Yoshie has recently relocated to Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, where he continues to play and teach.

Yoshie has performed at Carnegie hall, Drom, The World Cafe, Knitting Factory, the Black Cat, Blues Alley, The Breskaya in Moscow, Zebulon, Southpaw, Coda, Mercury Lounge, Public Assembly, The Jewish Music and Heritage Festival, The Downtown Seder, Makor, The Annex, DCJCC, The Velvet Lounge, Utopia Cafe among many others.

Discogoraphy:

Bellflur/self titled - 2004
/Read Walk take Talk - 2005
JUEZ/Shemspeed Alt Schule - 2004
Beyond the Book/self titled - 2005
Nochi Krohn Band/Ananim - 2006
Eitan Katz/Unplugged - 2007
Chana Rothman - We Can Rise - 2007
Rav Shmuel - B'Yameinu
Ari Boiangiu - 6 Days of Creation - 2008

Pitom - (Tzadik Records) - 2008

Upcoming:
Eitan Katz
Nochi Krohn

Yoshie Fruchter